Ty Zachary is one of two local rookies who have signed up to play for new Soo Thunderbirds coach Denny Lambert.

It is a double bonus when the team can add two locals at once.

Two of the top four scorers from the Soo Jr. Greyhounds of the Great North Midget Hockey League will stay at home to suit up for the Soo Thunderbirds of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League come the 2020-2021 season.

There is mindful optimism — even if it is from reading between the lines — that there will be a 2020-2021 junior hockey season.

And Soo Thunderbirds of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League will be a nice mix of old and new once teams are able to stick handle around the COVID-19 obstacle.

Incoming head coach Denny Lambert and his bench staff will be looking to work from the inside and outside as the Thunderbirds move on from a 2019-2020 season in which they finished in third place in the West Division with a record of 30-19-7.

Dunaújvárosi Acélbikák Steel Bulls have put in a call from Central Hungary to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario to ask veteran defenseman Bronson Kovacs to play another season of professional hockey in Erste Liga.

Bronson Kovacs

And the 29-year old Kovacs — he will turn 30 in July — told Hockey News North that he has made a verbal agreement to return to the Steel Bulls for the 2020-2021 hockey season. The 2020-2021 campaign will mark the sixth season of pro hockey in Hungary for Kovacs.

Barring any late change or modification, the Hockey Canada Registry will open as usual on June 1 to the 130 or so teams that are a part of the Canadian Jr. Hockey League. CJHL membership includes the 11 teams of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey.

Several skaters from the top team in the Great North Midget Hockey League from 2019-2020 are poised to progress to the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League in 2020-2021.

Dylan Forsyth

Forwards Michael Chaffay, Dylan Forsyth, Devin Mauro and Ty Zachary and defenseman Mateo Perri are among the stalwarts from the Great North’s Soo Jr. Greyhounds who may be headed to the NOJHL once the 2020-2021 season gets going.

Soo Thunderbirds of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League will have a new look coaching staff for the 2020-2021 season, Hockey News North has confirmed. And leading the way as the new bench boss of the T-Birds is a man who played the game at its highest level.

Wins were few and far between for small-market Blind River when the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League first set up shop in the little town of 3,500 back in 2000. In fact, it was not until the 2004-2005 campaign when coach Jim Capy arrived in Blind River via the Soo Thunderbirds that the Beavers had a winning season.

The 2019-2020 Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League season ended unexpectedly due to the coronavirus pandemic. But the NOJHL’s communications department, along with esteemed league historian David Harrison, have compiled a by-the-numbers look at the season.

It conveys a great deal about Dave Clancy that his peers voted him coach of the year in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League despite the fact that the Espanola Express posted a record well below the .500 mark.

Workhorse goalie Shane Brancato, a three-year veteran of the Soo Eagles and the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League, has opted to play at the National Collegiate Athletic Association level for the Trine University Thunder effective the 2020-2021 season.

The semi-final playoffs are underway in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League. And the Timmins Rock limited the reigning NOJHL champion Hearst Lumberjacks to a mere 14 shots on goal en route to a 5-2 win in the opening game of the best-of-seven, East Division series.